Wolff: Hamilton’s win proves rock and roll lifestyle no issue

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton’s flawless charge to victory at the Singapore Grand Prix is evidence his ‘rock and roll’ lifestyle allows to perform at his peak which should stop those who question his approach.

Hamilton grabbed the spotlight away from Formula 1 after his victory at the Italian Grand Prix by launching his own clothing range with Tommy Hilfiger, a brand that sponsors Mercedes thanks to the British driver’s influence, with a fashion show in Shanghai before jetting across to New York.

The reigning F1 world champion then completed his third long-haul trip back to the East for the Singapore Grand Prix with sparked concerns his jet-setting may hamper his on-track performances.

The fears proved to have no grounding as Hamilton produced a ‘magic’ outright lap record for pole position on Saturday to set-up his faultless drive to victory in Sunday’s race.

With Hamilton now heading up the F1 world championship by 40 points, it led to Mercedes team principal Wolff underlining his management calls allowing the British driver the freedom as it enables him to ‘blow everyone away’.

“For six years, I’ve heard people ask how can you allow Lewis to get off and fly around the world,” Wolff said. “You know what? He did it to his most extreme in the last 10 days.

“He loved it, he was in Shanghai on the catwalk, he was in New York a couple of days later, he came here rock and roll and he blew everyone away.

“Let’s be non-judgemental and allow everyone to judge how he performed best. And he knows best what is good for him.”

Heading into the Singapore race weekend, Hamilton explained his fashion business interests is a way to switch off from the hectic F1 schedule but doesn’t feel it impairs his preparations.

“As soon as I leave the races I’m able to switch off,” Hamilton said. “Trying to fit in the training, for example, has not been easy. But that’s not really how every single week goes for me – it’s just a hectic time for me with a lot going on in the outside world for me.

“I’ve travelled a lot more than I have all year long in these two weeks. But I think from experience I’ve been able to move around even more than I have these past two weeks and still arrive and be able to switch into race mode.

“There’s not a single moment during those two weeks, whilst I have those other things going on, that I’m not thinking about racing, not thinking about the championship or how I want to arrive.

“I get a lot of energy from these different things that I do. I find it stimulating and I think you’ll see that my results have shown that for the past several years.”